


Giants (Alternatively: How to Handle a Scared Dean Winchester According to Castiel)

by smile_for_me



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Croatoan/Endverse, DestielFicletChallenge, Episode: s05e04 The End, Fear, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 20:18:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5219414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smile_for_me/pseuds/smile_for_me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean’s eyes were wide as he stared across the horizon, Croats were bad enough as they were already, who had the bright idea to release giants as well? </p><p>Stealing a glance over at Cas who was next to him, Dean wasn’t sure how he felt to see the fear hiding in the ex-angel’s eyes. On one hand, it was nice to know he wasn’t alone in the jaw-dropping terror he did his best to hide, but on the other: If Cas was afraid of whatever this was this was probably the end.</p><p>And Dean thought the apocalypse couldn’t get any worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Giants (Alternatively: How to Handle a Scared Dean Winchester According to Castiel)

**Author's Note:**

> This was posted for the destielficletchallenge
> 
> I’m not completely happy with how this story came out. That’s mostly my fault as by the time I actually came up with an idea I liked, I spent too much time thinking about the past in the universe instead of what the main focus of the story was. However, this was the first time I’ve ever entered any form of writing challenge, and I realize now how much I struggle with sticking to a prompt. This has been a good learning experience for me, and I’m glad I entered even if my final work didn’t stick as closely to the theme as I would have hoped--I think it focuses more on the characters’ reactions to fear than anything else. Regardless, here is what I came up with.

Dean’s eyes were wide as he stared across the horizon, Croats were bad enough as they were already, who had the bright idea to release giants as well? They hadn’t gotten quite close enough yet to see how much of a threat they really were, but when could giants ever be a good thing?

Stealing a glance over at Cas who was next to him, Dean wasn’t sure how he felt to see the fear hiding in the ex-angel’s eyes. On one hand, it was nice to know he wasn’t alone in the jaw-dropping terror he did his best to hide, but on the other: If Cas was afraid of whatever this was this was probably the end.

And Dean thought the apocalypse couldn’t get any worse. 

***

Hidden in the strategy room--though _not hiding_ Dean would surely argue--the pair’s eyes met. Though their huge foes hadn’t made an attack on the camp yet, they were getting closer, and everyone had noticed. They had received many a questioning look as they tromped down the main road and into the meeting cabin, not asking for anyone to follow; there seemed to be an unspoken agreement among the people to leave the fearless leader and his angel alone.

“So. Giants?” Dean asked, eyes locked with Cas’s as he began to pace. 

“Yes, it would seem so,” Cas replied solemnly from his seat at the table. 

“I mean they’re a normal thing?” Dean pushed. “You know, Biblical times and all that?”

Cas nodded, his eyes trained on Dean. It was obvious--even to someone who didn’t know Dean like Cas did--that he was distressed. Forgoing his now-customary dry response, Cas decided to give Dean the answer he was looking for. 

“Giants used to be much more common,” he explained, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on another one nearby. “But they were hunted some and then naturally thinned out in population. The last ones died hundreds of years ago, before this continent was discovered.”

“So, like David and Goliath. He was a giant, right? But he wasn’t _that_ tall,” Dean said, confused and obviously thinking about the figures they had seen.

“Things are often lost in translation,” Cas answered with a shrug. “Goliath was bigger than what is commonly believed, but so was David. When there’s no one around who remembers the truth, lies often take its place. It became accepted that Goliath was only about 9 feet tall when people stopped believing it was possible for him to be taller.”

Quiet filled the small room and Cas waited for Dean to speak again. After about two minutes had passed with Dean having taken up his pacing again, the ex-angel asked, “What are you going to tell them?” His tone was the quiet, deadly serious one reserved for when Dean might just fall apart. The same tone had been used when the Devil was given permission to take control of Sam’s body. 

_The conversation he had just heard played through Castiel’s head incessantly, bouncing around in his head like a ball thrown by a child. A glance to the left showed that Dean was experiencing the same phenomenon, though to a greater extent._

Dean, I’m going to say yes. I’m in Detroit and I’m saying yes.

_It had been a month since they brothers had last spoken, the main reason being the problem just addressed. The younger Winchester wished to say yes to Lucifer, believed it was the only way to stop the complete annihilation of the human race._

_Needless to say, Dean had disagreed._

_“Pull over,” Cas spoke into the silence that was filling the Impala to the brim._

_The sharp look he received from Dean stung, but Cas was relentless--in part because of how white the other’s knuckles were around the steering wheel. He held the gaze resolutely until Dean sighed and acquiesced, pulling off of the road and onto the dirt shoulder._

_“What?” Dean asked, and his voice was gruff, and his hands were still tight on the steering wheel, and when Cas pulled them away they were shaking._

_Covering Dean’s trembling fingers with his own steady ones, Cas met his eyes and was shaken to his very core. Dean’s eyes were the same color as always, but the gold flecks normally floating around in the sea of green were joined by specks of grief, confusion, sadness, hopelessness, and every other emotion imaginable._

_“I’m sorry,” Cas said softly, his voice deadly calm and sincere._

_He then gave Dean the chance to respond, but instead watched as Dean looked away and sucked in an audible breath of air. Unsure of exactly what he was doing but knowing he needed to do something, Cas slowly let go of Dean’s hand and wrapped his arms around the hunter’s shoulders. It took a moment, but then Cas felt handed holding on to his trenchcoat, and soon after, Dean’s hair was tickling at Cas’s ear._

_Dean’s body shook in Cas’s arms, and the angel could hear sniffles and feel tears on his neck, but didn’t mention it. Sam was Dean’s brother, after all._

It had been used when this all started--when the world fell subject to the tyranny of the devil and the oppression of the Croats.

_“Cas.”_

_The angel turned at the voice and was met by the sight of Dean. The hunter looked a little worse for wear--though everyone did, really, what with the Croatoan epidemic--but it was the look in his eyes that really worried Cas: It was the same look Cas had received that first night in the barn. When Castiel had pulled Dean’s knife out like it was nothing, Dean’s eyes told the story of the true terror and inner turmoil he was feeling. Cas could guess what had brought that look about now._

_“Dean,” he replied calmly, retreating back behind a blank face._

_Cas watched Dean’s eyes flit around the area surrounding them, knowing what he was thinking: How am I supposed to run a camp of survivors? I can’t deal with that kind of pressure. Who knows what could happen? What if I lead these people--good people--into ruins?_

_Cas waited a moment for an answer before taking charge of the situation. Grabbing Dean’s sleeve, he took the other to the back corner of camp where the Impala was parked. Dean followed silently as Cas checked to make sure no one was watching them all the while. Once they arrived at the destination--sandwiched between the car and the back fence--Cas looked at Dean again. The look was still there, mingled with confusion and curiosity._

_Dean’s expression of this confusion was quickly silenced by a pair of lips--Cas’s lips. The angel knew it was a risk, knew there was a huge possibility that Dean would push him away, but Cas was smart, and he also knew Dean. Though it only took Dean a few seconds to return the pressure, it felt like years and as could practically feel his angelicalness running out of him like sand in an hourglass._

_Whether the kiss was fueled by feeling or simply pure necessity, Cas was unsure; but even if it was the latter option, Cas was okay with it. If whatever was between them was only for comfort, Cas would gain as much as Dean, and hopefully they would make it through together._

And, most recently, that tone had been used when Cas was hurt when going on a supply run. 

_Cas had been skeptical about going on the run without Dean--the pair were rarely found more than a few houses apart these days--but eventually he had conceded._

_It was dangerous going out, just like it always was, but Cas had a bad feeling right from the start, from the moment he drove the jeep out of the gates with the other following behind. Leading the way out into the open, Cas listened to the quiet surrounding him, hoping they wouldn't run into too many Croats._

_It was when they were leaving--the backs of their jeeps filled with everything useful they could find and the tanks a little fuller than they had been before--that everything fell apart. Cas was lugging back the last crate of canned food when they showed up._

_The Croats were fast, somehow faster than normal, and Cas was on the ground before he really knew what was happening. The next moment was a blur of pain and fear and panic and when he came to, the Croats were dead around him and his foot hurt so much it felt like it would fall off. There were voices around him, a shout from somewhere behind him that included the word “Dean.” Then he was being hoisted up and supported into the backseat of one of the jeeps with the sounds of the other driving away._

_Cas must have been passed out for most of the drive back to camp because the next thing he could process was a familiar voice filling his ears and familiar fingers brushing across his cheek. Opening his eyes, he was met with the sight of Dean leaning over him, his familiar eyes were filled with hardness--like they tended to be nowadays, especially around camp--but Cas could tell it was just a mask to hide the panic and terror Dean was really feeling._

_“Hello, Dean,” Cas said in a gravelly voice, hoping to somehow ease the other’s anxiety even as he winced, the pain in his foot making itself known again._

_Half an hour later found Cas settled in his bed, his newly set food wrapped up as securely as it could be, waiting for the pain meds to kick in, and watching Dean walk the area of space at the foot of the bed._

_“Dean, I’m fine,” Cas insisted after a moment, drawing the other’s attention to himself._

_“I knew I should have come with you,” Dean said, pushing a hand through his hair roughly, and Cas could see his walls breaking, the cracks in his armor too much to keep the unwanted emotions at bay._

_“It would have been unnecessary, Dean. You had things to get done here.”_

_“Cas, you could have been bitten,” Dean said, rounding on him abruptly. Azure blue met emerald green in an explosion of realization and Cas breathed out--long and slow--because he understood._

_“I wasn’t bitten, Dean. I’m still here,” the ex-angel promised, reaching out for him. “I’m not about to let myself get turned into a Croat, okay?”_

_Dean obliged to the hand reaching out to him, and Cas was grateful for the four walls around them because Dean’ wouldn't’ let his guard down around anyone else. Their “fearless leader” trembled in his arms and Cas turned his face into his hair, letting Dean burrow into his chest and murmured, “You won’t lose me, Dean. I promise. I won’t leave you.”_

Dean froze and looked at him. It took a second, but Cas watched as Dean started to let the mask fall. “What am I supposed to say, Cas?” His voice sounded broken, the fear seeping in and filling the small room. Before both of them could be suffocated by it, Cas let his feet fall back to the ground with the slow ease he had become accustomed to. He felt Dean’s eyes on him as he stood up and eventually turned to look at him.

“What do you want to tell them?”

Dean stared at him and Cas knew that wasn’t the answer he wanted, but he had given it intentionally. Cas had gained enough humanity to know what to say, especially to Dean. 

“I don’t know, Cas!” Dean said, his slightly raised voice sounding like shouting into the silence that weighed heavily on the room. “This world is already screwed up enough and now giants are added to the equation! They’re gonna just give up, Cas! God know’s I want to!”

Cas grabbed Dean’s wrists, drawing his attention and effectively shutting him up. 

“This is what Lucifer wants, Dean,” he said firmly, his voice taking on a somewhat angry tone. “He wants to get into your head and freak you out, but you _can’t let him_. These people are counting on you to hold it together and get them out of this mess alive.” Gripping onto his wrists tightly--as if that could hold Dean together--Cas met Dean’s eyes, his own bright blue hardened for the both of them. “And I know you can do this. Even without me, you could do this.”

Dean’s eyes stayed trained on his for a second, and Cas could see him putting himself back together--building himself back up from where he had knocked himself down to. When he did speak, it was like the first words after good food in hungry mouths, like he was put back together and now back to business again. 

“You think Lucifer sent them?”

Cas’s eyebrows raised a little and he let go of Dean’s wrists. “Of course. What else would it be?”

“Where would he get giants?”

Cas shrugged. “I’m sure some of them found their way to Hell. Who’s to say he doesn’t have a secret supply?” The last sentence was said in jest, but Cas wouldn’t be surprised if the Devil really did have an army of giants ready--though hopefully what they saw was the extent of it. 

Dean laughed bitterly and shook his head, turning away from Cas. “How are we supposed to fight _giants_ , Cas? We can barely fight the Croats.”

“Who says we’ll need to fight them?”

“Why wouldn’t we need to fight them?”

Cas could hear the frown in his voice even if he couldn’t see the other’s face. 

“Maybe this is just Lucifer’s way of trying to get out attention,” he replied. “There’s no way to know what will be waiting for us out there.”

***

In the end, the debacle wasn’t quite as big of a problem as Dean had anticipated, and his minor freakout was probably unnecessary.

They had gone to bed the night before with plans to rally the troops the next day and trek out to meet the giants before they got to camp. However, when morning came, the situation was different from what they had anticipated. 

The giants--there were only seven or eight of them, but they were _huge_ \--had gathered a few hundred yards from camp, all of them surrounding a bright bonfire. Panicked, everyone had been rushing to Dean for answers as soon as he and Cas emerged from their cabin. Dean had calmed their anxieties quickly and called a party together. Leaving Chuck in charge while they were gone, Dean had led the usual team of fighters out to what he assumed would be battle with Cas at his side; a sideways glance at the ex-angel showed that his carefree visage was still going strong, obviously not eaten up about the whole ordeal like Dean was. 

They confronted the beasts with guns blazing--Dean’s usual method of choice--and were greeted with some opposition but not much, especially once the Croats showed up. For some reason, the infected were more interested in the giants’ bodies than they were in the survivors’, though it’s not like Dean was complaining about that. 

At the end of the day, they all went home with minimal injuries, muddy boots, and raised spirits. Dean’s chest felt looser than it had felt in weeks after the victory. For him, it wasn’t just a victory over the giants, it was a victory over his fear if only for a few moments, it was a victory over that noise in the back of his head telling him he wasn’t good enough, wasn’t prepared enough to lead a group of people through the end of the world. 

That night, Dean fell into bed next to Cas, flopping his arm around the ex-angel’s waist. And then, after a moment of silence, with a smile on his face for the first time in forever said, “I friggin’ hate giants.”


End file.
